ilb booklet 2015 / KJL booklet 2015 - Internationales Literaturfestival

Transcription

02 09 THURSDAY
8PM SPECIALS
BERLIN PHILHARMONIC
AI Weiwei and Liao Yiwu in conversation with Wolfgang Herles on modern art and rebellion in
China
Ai Weiwei will be appearing in a public event for the first time since his incarceration to speak with Liao
Yiwu and Wolfgang Herles. The conversation will center on modern art and rebellion in China, on the
last few years, but also the future and Berlin. Liao Yiwu has been living in Berlin for three years and Ai
Weiwei clearly sees himself here as well; his large-scale exhibition »Evidence« was displayed in the
Walter Gropius Bau 3.4 – 13.7.2014 and in October of this year he will appear as a guest professor at
the Akademie der Künste.
18 / 12 / 8 €
04 09 SATURDAY
8PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD | PREMIERE
LITERATURHAUS BERLIN
Katharina Hacker’s [Germany] Novel »Skip« on the question: where is our place in the world,
where is our place in life?
Skip Landau, architect, husband, and father, reaches a shocking turning point in his life: through an
inner voice he is linked to catastrophic events and finds himself in the position of accompanying the
dying in their final moments. In her thrilling story, which takes place between Paris, Tel Aviv, Berlin,
and Amsterdam, Hacker tells of the effects this change has on Skip’s life, his marriage, and his
relationship to his son. For her novel »Die Habenichtse«, the author was awarded the Deutscher
Buchpreis in 2006.
Ticket Presale via Literaturhaus, Tel. 030. 8872860
5/3/3€
08 09 TUESDAY
7.30PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD | PREMIERE
HAUS DER BERLINER FESTSPIELE Side stage
Clemens J. Setz [Austria] - »Die Stunde zwischen Frau und Gitarre«
Natalie works in a housing facility for the disabled. For some time she had been looking after
Alexander, who psychologically tortured a woman at length until she finally committed suicide. The
only visitor he receives is, of all people, the widower of the very same woman. Natalie attempts to
involve herself in the bizarre relationship between the two men, and is pulled into a dismal undertow of
emotions between delusion, love, and helplessness. Clemens J. Setz charges directly into the
uncharted territory of the human psyche, in which all moral categories blur.
Moderator: Iris Radisch
8/6/4€
9PM REFLECTIONS | PREMIERE
Norman Ohler [Germany] - »Der Totale Rausch – Drogen im Dritten Reich«
During the five-year research process for his first book of nonfiction, the journalist, prose-writer, and
screenwriter [»Palermo Shooting«, Dir: Wim Wenders; 2008] uncovered sources that had lain hitherto
untouched. What he found altered the understanding of fascist Germany and its ideology entirely.
Despite the openly persecuting policies of the fight against controlled substances, it was discovered
that Hitler’s Blitzkrieg was made possible not only by excessive motorization, but also by the
administration of 35 million doses of a substance known today as crystal meth. Even the Fuhrer’s own
fire, his mania and will to fight, were kept alive chemically by doctors.
Moderator: Arno Widmann
8/6/4€
09 09 WEDNESDAY
6AM – 5.30PM SPECIALS BERLIN READS
BERLIN
“Berlin Reads” On the Theme of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Europe
Together with the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung we want to make on the situation of refugees and asylumseekers both in Europe and Worldwide the center of attention at the 15th ilb. With which words and
images can the fate of the nameless, the incapability of politics, and the urgency of the situation right
before our front door in Europe be brought to light? The large-scale reading performance on the 9th of
September begins at 6AM and ends at 5.30PM – half an hour before the start of the 15th ilb in the
Haus der Berliner Festspiele.
10AM SPECIALS BERLIN READS
HAUS DER BERLINER FESTSPIELE Ticket hall
Specials Berlin Reads
Employees of the 15th ilb read »Neue Heimat?« by Maria Naprushkina [Belarus/Germany]
»Berlin Reads« on the theme Refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe is a coproduction of the ilb and
the Heinrich Böll Stiftung. In Berlin, attention will be called to the fate of people in flight through
readings. In her book »Neue Heimat?« artist and author Marina Naprushkina shares episodes what
occurred during her work as an aid for refugees in Berlin. In conjunction with the reading [ca. 4PM] the
author will speak with Ulrich Schreiber.
Free Entry
6PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD OPENING CEREMONY
HAUS DER BERLINER FESTSPIELE Main stage
Opening of the 15th ILB: Javier Marias [Spain]: Let’s start at the beginning
Since his youth, Javier Marias has been at home in the international literature scene. After his studies
in literature, he worked as an editor, actor, journalist, and translator. His 1992 novel »Mein Herz so
weiß« achieved worldwide success, and established him as one of the most important voices in the
realm of Spanish language literature. His novels have been translated into 35 languages and multiply
awarded – Marias has received, among others, the Nelly Sachs Prize for his collected work.
Moderator: Michi Strausfeld, Music: Edson Cordeiro, Rolf Hammermüller
12 / 8 / 4 €
»Ungläubiges Staunen« - Navid Kermani [Germany] on Christianity
Multiply awarded for his novels, stories, and essays on literature, the winner of the 2015 Peace Prize
of the German Book Trade also enjoys high esteem as an orientalist. His books and reports are some
of the cleverest pieces one can read on Islam and the near east. In his new book, which will be
celebrated at the premiere of the 15th ilb, he turns his attention to Christianity. He marvels at the
religion filled with victims and grievance, love and wonder, illogical and unfathomable, profoundly
human and godly – a Christianity, of which Christians themselves rarely speak with such honesty,
audacity, and excitement.
Moderator: Andreas Isenschmid
8/6/4€
10PM SPECIALS EXHIBITION VERNISSAGE
HAUS DER BERLINER FESTSPIELE Upper lobby
Ali Ghandtschi [Iran/Germany] shows his impressions of Israel in three photo series
Ghandtschi’s image of Israel is one from a very unique perspective. As the German-Iranian, raised
between the two cultures, travelled to Israel to photograph portraits of authors and artists, the personal
conversations he had there developed into a volume titled »Mein Israel – Juden und Palästinenser
erzählen«*. His photos bear witness to what only seems like the everyday. They tell of drowning out,
erasure, and the desire to be right.
Moderator: Stefan Iglhaut
*Translated by Eldad Stobezki and Mirjam Pressler
Free Entry
10 09 THURSDAY
6PM SPECIALS CITY OF THE FUTURE OPENING CEREMONY
Opening of the program »Visions 2030. Authors and scientists n the future of cities«with
Suketu Mehta [India/USA], Perihan Magden [Turkey], Sonja Beeck [Germany], and Jutta Deffner
[Germany]
Calcutta-born author Suketu Mehta sees the mega-city Mumbai as a »forerunner of the sprawling
metropolises that will redefine the concept of a city«. »Sentient City« - this is the concept which media
artist, US-architect and publisher of the anthology of the same name, Mark Shepard, believes will
determine the city of the future. While »Sentient City« may sound in part like a Sci-fi novel, Mehta
patches up the holes of the Indian metropolis in his collection of reports »Bombay. Maximum City«*. In
his »Vision 2030«, he appeals to the craft of the urban planner and architect, represented in the
discussion by Sonja Beeck: »Your dreams could become our nightmares. The rest of us have to walk
in them, sleep in them, live in them.« The cultural-critical vision of bestselling Turkish author Perihan
Magden introduces another facet of the city of the future, which observes through social media the
coming of the age of narcissism.
Moderator: Marie Neumüllers
Free Entry
6PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD
Haris Vlavianos [Greece] - »Blut ist dünner als Wasser«*
This arrangement of short prose puts the experience of growing up in a family situation torn between
trauma and intimacy on display before a mundane backdrop. Despite the finesse in the details, this
work remains accessible, unfolding the elements of each human mood while telling a straightway
archetypical story of hurting and being hurt, at the end of which stands forgiveness with a caveat. The
text also manages to upturn many Greek clichés.
Moderator: Michaela Prinzinger, Speaker: Friedhelm Ptok
*Translated by Torsten Israel
8/6/4€
6PM CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
HAUS DER BERLINER FESTSPIELE Garden stage
Conversation and Q&A with Frank Cottrell Boyce [UK] and Salah Naoura [Germany]
The current Krüss Prize winner (awarded by the jury of this prize for his »linguistic brilliance,
originality, imaginative narration and metropolitanism) and his collected literary works will be presented
in this workshop, in which Cottrell Boyce’s translator Salah Naoura will also take part.
This event will be held in English.
Free Entry
Javier Marias [Spain] - »So fängt das Schlimme an«*
Juan looks back on the time he spent as an assistant to the famous film director Eduardo Muriel in
1980s Madrid. Young, eager, and full of hope for the future, Juan soon becomes a witness to the
wedding of Eduardo and Beatriz. The relationship seems so bizarre and unstable that it is only a
matter of time until turbulent and rattling events take their course.
Moderator: Paul Ingendaay, Speaker: Christian Brückner
*Translated by Susanne Lange
8/6/4€
7.30PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD POETRY NIGHT I
Poetry Night I: Luis Chaves [Costa Rica]*, Haaris Vlavianos [Greece]**, and Ruth Padel [UK]***
Luis Chaves is one of the most renowned voices of contemporary poetry in Costa Rica. He has won
countless awards for his poetry, most recently the 2012 Premio Nacional de Poesia of the Costa Rican
Ministry of Culture for »la maquina de hacer niebla«. Haris Vlavianos is the editor of the renowned
literary journal »Politiki«. In addition to his own volumes of poetry and essayistic works he has
published multiple translations of American poetry, including Eliot, Pound, and Ashbery. Ruth Padel is
a poet, and an author of novels and nonfiction. Above all, she is known for her work as a critic of
poetry and her writings on nature, but also her connection to music and the sciences; in addition to
this, her artistic interests lean particularly towards Greece.
Moderator: Silke Behl, Speaker: Frank Arnold
*Textual excerpts translated by Timo Berger
** Textual excerpts translated by Torsten Israel
*** Textual excerpts translated by Rainer Schmidt
8/6/4€
7.30PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD
Varujan Vosganian [Romania] creates a literary memorial for the Armenian Genocide with
»Buch des Flüsterns«
The »Buch des Flüsterns«* left readers and critics all across Europe equal parts enthused and moved
in its wake. In episodic stories, the book reports on the fate of the Armenians after the Turkish
takeover in 1915. The after-effects are still palpable, and so Vosganian spans a wide narrative arch
from the Armenian uprising until the present day.
Moderator: Ernest Wichner, Speaker: Friedhelm Ptok
*Translated by Ernest Wichner
8/6/4€
Shelia Kohler [South Africa/USA] - »Dreaming for Freud«
»Dreaming for Freud« is inspired by the treatment of Dora, the pseudonym of Sigmund Freud’s
famous patient Ida Bauer. Kohler tells the captivating story of the 17 year-old Dora and the 45 year-old
psychoanalyst, and picks up with her own narrative where the treatment of Dora abruptly ends. The
reader finds themselves in 1900s Vienna and experiences an in-depth look at the internal worlds of
both characters. Shelia Kohler lives in New York and teaches at Bennington College in Vermont.
Moderator: Gabriele von Arnim, Speaker: Denis Abrahams
The event will be held in English
8/6/4€
8PM SPECIALS WEATHER STATIONS
CLUB DER POLNISCHEN VERSAGER
»Saving the world today. Jaś Kapela stops climate change.« – Reading and discussion with
Jaś Kapela [Poland]
»I traded my old telephone in for a new one and already my conscience is snapping at my heels. I
think of all these children, who are forced to work in gold and platinum mines, and to whom we owe
the pleasure of a new cellphone every two years. I would like to shake their hands. To show my
gratitude for all these years in which my quality of life has maintained a high technological level.« Jas
Kapela, polish author and activist, presents his poems from the blog »Global Weather Stations« and
reads from his play »Global Warming of the Hearts«. Journalist Jan Knobloch speaks with Kapela
about literature, climate change, and activism.
Moderator: Jan Knobloch
This event will be held in English, German, and Polish.
Free Entry
9PM SPECIALS
»Man muss ein Spiel auch lesen Können« with Jan Böttcher, Markus Langer [Evonik], Motitz
Rinke, Lucas Vogelsang, Benedict Wells, and Florian Werner. Guest appearance by actor and
BVB-fan Joachim Krol and a professional football player from Borussia Dortmund
This project is unprecedented. For an entire season writers accompanied a football team and have
turned this experience into a book. The DFB National Authors Team travelled at Borussia Dortmund’s
invitation to every home game played by the black-and-yellow and experienced perhaps the team’s
most dramatic and noteworthy season to date. “Man muss ein Spiel auch lessen können” is a
cooperation with the BVB’s main sponsor Evonik and the DFB National Authors Team. Moritz Rinke,
the director, is one of the most successful writers and stage authors of his generation and forward for
the National Authors Team.
Moderator: Paul Ingendaay
8/6/4€
9PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD_PREMIERE
Peter Stephan Jungk [Austria] - »Die Dunkelkammern der Edith Tudor-Hart – Geschichten
eines Lebens«
As a single mother, one of the most prominent photographers of her time, and spy for the USSR, Edith
Tudor-Hart lived an unusual life. Reflected in her stories is a generation, an entire epoch: born 1908,
she studied at Bauhaus in the Weimar Republic and was later imprisoned for her Marxist beliefs. In
her self-elected exile in England, she created brilliant photo-reports and at the same time recruited
spies for the Soviet Union. With great diligence and an exacting eye for the connections across time,
Peter Stephan Jungk follows the tracks of the touching life story of this extraordinary woman.
8/6/4€
9PM SPECIALS
Sarah Blau [Israel] and Carlo Strenger [Switzerland/Israel] discuss the influence of religion on
the state of Israel
The face of Israel is changing rapidly. While the country was predominately secular at its founding, it is
changing more and more into an observably religious state. There are diverse currents, ranging from
moderately religious all the way to the extremist group Naturei Karta, which vehemently rejects the
Israeli state. Author Sarah Blau and psychology professor Carlo Strenger will discuss the question,
whether and to what extent Israeli society continues to develop in a religious direction. Was does that
mean for the people on a personal level? And what does it mean for the relationship with the Arab
population?
Moderator: Carsten Hueck
8/6/4€
11 09 FRIDAY
4.30PM SPECIALS CITY OF THE FUTURE
A City in danger: Omar Akbar [Germany] speaks with Rawi Hage [Lebanon/Canada] about the
future of Beirut
There is likely no other city like Beiruit, which, at the mention of her name, calls forth an image of an
almost romantic-bizarre complexity and dynamic. Since 1990, after the civil war years, much in this
multi-religion and multi-ethnic city of two million has been torn down and rebuilt. Over time,
development and destruction have become likely symbols of the city. A dialectic that belongs to the
identity of Beirut.
Free Entry
6PM REFLECTIONS
A European Immigration law? A discussion on the theme ‘Criteria for a European immigration
policy’ with Ashur Etwebi [Libya/Norway] and Jakob Preuss [Germany]
There is hardly a theme more dominant in the European news at this time than refugee politics. In the
face of the dramatic situation of refugees at the European borders, it is necessary to reach a political
consensus. What are the parameters and criteria for European immigration legislation?
Moderator: Ulrike Guerot
8/6/4€
Deborah Levy [South Africa/UK] - »Things I Don’t Want to Know«
The prose piece written by the playwright and screenwriter is a direct response to George Orwell’s
essay »Why I write« - but it could answer the question »Why I read« just as well. A prismatic work,
woven from memories, associations, philosophy, literature and gender theory, in which the author is
reflected in her own history and stories – how each one develops from the other – but also in the
works and citations of other, prominent thinkers and writers. A clever self-reflection of a soul that
doesn’t know if it writes, what it is – or is what it writes. And yet the work is so surprisingly light, despite
heavy memories, dreamy, without being surreal.
Moderator: Beatrice Fassbender, Speaker: Regina Gisbertz
8/6/4€
Ma Jian [China/UK] tells the story of the losing side in China’s economic boom in »The Dark
Road«
Beyond the lights of Beijing or Shanghai and far away from the growing economy, Meili and Konzi
struggle along as day labourers and river nomads, constantly on the run from the authorities who want
to ban their second child and threaten Meili with forced sterilization. Ma Jian allows the unheard voices
of China to find words in his insightful and passionate novel, the voices of the forgotten losers in the
economic prosperity, those who must live off of the poisoned waters, fruitless earth, and the dumping
ground of industrialization.
Moderator: Gregor Dotzauer, Speaker: Roland Schäfer
8/6/4€
6PM SPECIALS CITY OF THE FUTURE
»Visions 2030. Authors and scientists n the future of cities« with Rawi Hage [Lebanon/Canada],
Maria Sonia Cristoff [Argentina], Stephan Rammler [Germany], and Stefan Schurig [Germany]
It is the year 2030. Place: a therapeutic clinic in Buenos Aires. A son writes to his mother. Isolated
form the outside world entirely, he imagines himself as an »ethnographer of the city«. While
Argentinean author Maria Sonia Cristoff approaches the topic »City of the Future« in the form of a
fictional collection of letters, Lebanese-Canadian novelist Rawi Hage charts a vision of a coming
natural disaster. That the protagonist of Hage’s short story is one of the more fanatical scientists when
it comes to the exactness of his prognoses portrays a particular relish. Finally, two established
experts on the future in the areas mobility, climate, and energy grace the stage in the form of Stephan
Rammler and Stefan Schurig, who will have the opportunity within the discussion to present their
vision of a post-fossil-fuel world and a society of sustainable economics.
Free Entry
7.30PM SPECIALS THE STATE OF FEMINISM I
What we demand: Laurie Penny [UK] on desire and emancipation
What do we want to want? Our liberation, of course, says Laurie Penny – yet we desire exactly that
which hinders this liberation. The young British feminist speaks with Frederike Kaltheuner on the
occasion of her book »Unspeakable Things – sex, lies, and revolution«, about the contradictive nature
of our requirements, which are especially relevant in today’s gender relations. In her book, Penny
pleads for a feminist revolution, which all of society should embrace.
Moderator: Frederike Kaltheuner
8/6/4€
7.30PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD POETRY NIGHT II
Poetry Night II: Ashur Etwebi [Libya/Norway], Ellen Hinsey [USA/France], Gerhard Falkner
[Germany]
Ashur Etwebi’s poems reflect culture, landscape, history, and the everyday life of Libya. Through his
innovative use of language and frequent application of neologisms he is continually rediscovering
language. The lyrical tone of Ellen Hinsey transports sorrow with its exactness and brevity. She is a
traditionalist with respect to Greek antiquity. Gerhard Falkner, one of the »greatest German language
wizards« [»Süddeutsche Zeitung«], explores beyond all lyrical conventions the inner life of the
postmodern man.
Moderator: Silke Behl, Speaker: Nina West
8/6/4€
7.30PM REFLECTIONS
Haris Vlavianos [Greece] in conversation with Ulrich Schreiber [Germany] on Crisis and
Language
In conversation about the language of the crisis, Haris Vlavianos and Ulrich Schreiber will discuss how
the current crisis is reported in the media and literature. They will get to the root of the question, how
people’s hardship and suffering can be put into words. In addition, they turn their gaze to the detriment
of poetry, being unable to reproduce the misery of the crisis.
Free Entry
Ha Jin’s [China/USA] novel »Map of Betrayal« about the daughter of a double agent
Lilian Shang receives her father’s journals after his death. Their contents are more than controversial:
Gary Shang worked for more than 30 years at the CIA as a mole for the Chinese Secret Police. As she
slowly begins to get a grip on her father’s dilemma, always torn between two cultures, her previously
solid idea of home, loyalty, and identity begin to blur.
Moderator: Barbara Wahlster, Speaker: Frank Arnold
8/6/4€
7.30PM REFLECTIONS
INSTITUTO CERVANTES
Reading and Discussion with Pablo Gutierrez [Spain] - »Die Spanische Krise im Roman« with
Dieter Ingenschay [Germany] and the Association of German Hispanists
In conversation with Dieter Ingenschay and Janett Reinstädler, two specialists in contemporary
Spanish literature, Pablo Gutierrez will speak to his novels, the possibilities and forms of a “Crisis
Literature”, and to the relationship between literature and politics in Spain four decades after Franco’s
death.
Moderator: Dieter Ingenschay
8/6/4€
7.30PM SPECIALS WEATHER STATIONS
»Weather Stations« brings literature and language into the center of the debate on climate
change. Tony Birch [Australia], Mirko Bonne [Germany], Xiaolu Guo [China/UK], Jas Kapela
[Poland], and Oisin McGann [Ireland] read selected texts from the project anthology and
discuss the question: how to write about climate change?
»Deep down do I really care?« - What contributions can literature and language make when it comes
to one of the greatest crises to ever confront mankind? The international project »Weather Stations«,
which aims to bring literature and language into the center of the debate on climate change, poses
exactly this question. For 18 months, five authors from five countries have worked intensively with the
theme. They read texts from the anthology »writing climate change« and discuss with the project’s
founders the question: does literature give us another way of approaching the reality of climate
change? The students participating in the project will organize the finale of the event, in which they will
manifoldly formulate a self-determined goal: Stop the Silence. The anthology »writing climate change«
will be distributed amongst the guests.
Moderator: Birte Hendricks, Speaker: Matthias Schwenikas
Free Entry
Michael Cunningham USA – »The Snow Queen«
In Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale-classic of the same name, the broken bits of enchanted mirror
make everyone’s eyes and soul blind to the good and the beautiful in life. Cunningham’s four main
characters struggle to stick to their hopes and dreams while they try to find their way out of a midlife
crisis in wintry New York City. Still not willing to believe that they dreams might never come true, they
are forced to watch as their promising future passes them by. But their hope, now stronger than ever,
reveals new miracles and secrets. A manifesto of hope, love and the celebration of life.
Moderator: Sigrid Löffler, Speaker: Christian Brückner
8/6/4€
Leila S. Chudori Indonesien – »Home«*
Little Leila S. Chudori is only three years old when the mass murdering of alleged communist
sympathisers begins in September of 1965. Thousands of people were ordered to die due to their
political opinion. This marks the beginning of the dictatorship of President Suharto. »Home« tells the
story of a group of journalists who can not return to their home country and are forced to stay in exile
in Paris as a consequence of the political events of 1965. The novel links the historical events with the
personal destiny of two generations.
Moderator: Silke Behl, Speaker: Regina Gisbertz
8/6/4€
Xiaolu Guo china / UK – »Ich bin China«* – a novel about the battle for freedom
Wild, promiscuous and most of all angry: The young artist couple Mu and Jian dedicated their life to
the fight for freedom. Together they break through every obstacle until they get themselves pursued by
the Chinese Republic and have to escape into exile. They may have saved their lives, but not their
relationship, which breaks apart due to this defeat. From now on they are forced to fight at two
frontiers: against their personal alienation due to the loss of their home and for their own fulfilment.
Moderator: Gregor Dotzauer, Speaker: Nina West
8/6/4€
12 09 SATURDAY
3PM SPECIALS 11 MINUTES
HAUS DER BERLINER FESTSPIELE Ticket Hall
Publishers Exhibition with Theresia Enzensberger – Block Magazin, Reinald Gußmann –
Vorwerk 8, Wolfgang Hörner – Galiani, Tom Lamberty – Merve Verlag, Ulrike Ostermeyer –
Arche Verlag, Andreas Rötzer – Matthes & Seitz, Christian Ruzicska – Secession Verlag für
Literatur, Susanne Schüssler – Wagenbach, Daniela Seel – kook-books, , Johann Ulrich –
avant-verlag
The landscape of German publishing has defended its diversity in spite of the omnipresence of large
media corporations. Many small publishing houses work with courageous, unusual, and qualitatively
outstanding programs.
In 11 minutes respectively, ten publishers will present the philosophy of their publishing program.
Moderator: Ulrich Schreiber
Free Entry
3.30PM SPECIALS GRAPHIC NOVEL DAY PRELUDE
INSTITUT FRANÇAIS
Comics at the Crossroads – Mutual influences between comics and other art forms. Illustrated
panel discussion with Sara Colaone [Italy], Filipe Melo [Portugal], Alexandra Gavrilă [Romania],
Olivier Schrauwen [Belgium] and Maciej Sienczyk [Poland]
These five graphic novel artists work with the most diverse genres and are therewith pioneers in the
ever-developing field of comics. In association with the panel, the exhibition »European Graphic
Novels« will be opening at 5.30PM in the Institut Francais. This project is a cooperation with EUNIC
and Reprodukt and presents excerpts from the work of the artists who will take part in the ilb’s Graphic
Novel Day.
Moderator: Lars von Törne
8/6/4€
4PM SPECIALS WEATHER STATIONS
»Climate and Language« - Panel discussion with Mirko Bonné and Ranty Islam
In the context of »Weather Stations«, in which literati write about the climate change, novelist Mirko
Bonné, journalism researcher Prof. Dr. Torsten Schäfer, and journalist Ranty Islam discuss new ways
of communication for the topic. What kind of climate language is there? What could journalism learn
from literature? What chances does the multimedia language world offer?
Mirko Bonné presents his narrative poem »Plastikmeer«. A previous work, a series about the
language of the climate change, can be seen on >gruener-journalismus.de<.
Moderator: Torsten Schäfer
Free Entry
Zaza Burchuladze [Georgia] – »Adibas«: Imagine it’s war, and you are dressed wrong
His provocative topics, an experimental writing style, and a picture of a society that opposes the
national identity of the orthodox majority forced the author and his translator to seek refuge in Berlin
after several attacks. »Adibas« is his first work to be translated into German: While the country is
shaken by the Russian-Georgian war in 2008, it does not really have any impact on the lives of the
young and hip society of Tiflis. A cynical portrait of a lifestyle, which imitates the western consumer
addiction – a side-glance to the Western rush in times of trouble and turmoil.
Moderator: Vera Block, Speaker: Denis Abrahams
8/6/4€
Jose Luis Mendonca [Angola] – »Das Reich der Casuarinen«
With the publication of the novel »Das Reich der Casuarinen« in 2014, the poet José Luis Mendonca
has broken a taboo. He talks about the dashed hopes that have spread over Angola in the first two
decades after its independence. The story is told by a tax officer, who studied national economy in the
GDR and who brought a cat that knows how to play the piano. Utopia, madness, and reality lie close
together and create a fascinating illustration of East-Germany and Luanda during that time.
Moderator: Ineke Phaf-Rheinberger, Speaker: Jan Uplegger
8/6/4€
Leila Aboulela [Sudan/ UK] »The Kindness of Enemies« on the Jihad, Sufism, loyalty and
identity
Leila Aboulela’s latest novel covers more than a century of Islamic history. She artfully interweaves the
eventful life of Imam Shahil, who led resistance against the Russians in nineteenth century northern
Caucasus region, with that of his descendants in contemporary Scotland. Her protagonist Natasha,
half Russian and half Sudanese, can be seen as an example for a young generation of Muslims
searching search for a new social identity between past and modernity.
Moderator: Priya Basil, Speaker: Franziska Hermann
8/6/4€
A city and its cultural diversity: Omar Akbar [Germany] speaks with Suketu Mehta [India/ USA]
about Maximum Cities
The traditional notion of urbanity is in the process of modification. The City gradually transforms into
an agglomeration of different life- and work-styles. Parallel cultures with their own social and cultural
codes evolve and overlap. City administrations are increasingly overwhelmed by overpopulation,
negative growth, gentrification, segregation, suburbanization, gated communities, slums, illegal
seizures of land, informal economy, rudimentary tax payments, a bumptious bureaucracy, overstrained
infrastructure etc. until it seems that only the transport network is holding the urban agglomeration
together. The construct »city« is in need of a contemporary definition.
Free Entry
Adam Thirlwell [UK] on the rapid decline of middle-class existence
The protagonist of Adam Thirlwell’s new novel »Lurid & Cute« has everything a man in a London
suburb could need to be happy. He has a house, a wife, and a dog waiting for him at home, and there
is no real reason to worry. However, from time to time this postmodern anti-hero is haunted by a
desire for change. What begins as a well-deserved relief from social conventions ends in the ruins of
his middle-class existence. The excess of destruction has rarely been so entertaining.
»A great achievement« - Daniel Kehlmann.
Moderator: Bernhard Robben, Speaker: Denis Abrahams
8/6/4€
E. C. Osundus [Nigeria/ USA] Collection of Short Stories »Voice of America«
For many people in Nigeria, the United States seem infinitely far away. Nevertheless, America’s voice
is heard everywhere: printed t-shirts blazon empty phrases, even children are occupied by rumours of
the carefree life across the ocean, and some families receive a welcome monthly bundle of bills from
those lucky enough to have made the jump into the alleged Promised Land. Osondu depends on a
pointed style and his sharp eye for the small and great absurdities of life in order to illustrate American
influence on Nigeria.
Moderator: Helon Habila, Speaker: Thomas B. Hoffmann
8/6/4€
7.30PM REFLECTIONS
Ahmed Rashid [UK/ Pakistan] and Raza Rumi [Pakistan] discuss the history and the future of
ISIS
Many journalists in Western Europe are still wondering how deeply our secret services and their
superiors must have slept to not have seen coming the danger that emanates from this terrorist
organization. There is verified ISIS activity in Libya, Lebanon, Nigeria, Yemen, Tunisia and Egypt and
in Syria and Iraq it now dominates large parts of the country. It seems further dispersion into and
throughout Asia is already in process. Ahmed Rashid and Raza Rumi discuss the history of the
organisation, its religious manifestos, its violations of civil rights, and its spread through Central Asia,
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Moderator: Ulrike Guérot
8/6/4€
Laksmi Pamuntjak [Indonesia] – »The Question of Red«
After the coup d’état of young general Suharto in 1965 Indonesia, everyone suspected of harbouring
communist sympathies was in danger of persecution. In 1998 a woman searches the prisoner island
Buru for traces of the man she loved and then lost in those days. Along the lines of the Indian national
epic »Mahabharata«, that great narration of love and war, Pamuntjak unfolds the panorama of a
young nation.
Moderator: Silke Behl, Speaker: Regina Gisbertz
8/6/4€
7.30PM SPECIALS THE STATE OF FEMINISM II
COLLEGIUM HUNGARICUM BERLIN
The Power of the Image and the future of Cinema: Movie night with Josephine Decker [UK/USA]
So far, Josephine Decker has made two films – and according to the New Yorker, both belong to the
ten best films of 2014. According to one review, she has revolutionized »the grammar of cinematic
narration«, she has found a new and powerful imagistic language, which seems to flow directly from
the unconscious. In conversation with Toby Ashraf [Berlin Art Film Festival], Decker speaks about this
»other aesthetic« and shows the highly-praised and multiply awarded film »Thou wast Mild and
Lovely«: a lyrical ballad in the American backcountry, which mutates into a sensual thriller.
Moderator: Toby Ashraf
8/6/4€
7.30PM SPECIALS CITY OF THE FUTURE
A city of lost beauty: Omar Akbar speaks with Maria Sonia Cristoff about the future of Buenos
Aires
Buenos Aires, the city of »good airs«, has often been referred to as the »Paris of South America«. The
boulevards, the cafes, strolling, and tango characterize the city’s charms. The radical political
upheavals of the last decades – dictatorship, democracy, nepotism – have changed the city. Buenos
Aires has lost the ease and national significance of earlier days, yet offers the potential for positive
development.
Free Entry
Elif Shafak opens the doors to the Ottoman Palaces in »The Architect’s Apprentice«
In the 16th century as young Jahan, coming from poor relations, reaches Istanbul’s harbour together
with a white elephant, he does not yet know of the adventures that lie before him. Soon he can count
gypsies, animal tamers, and even a princess among his new acquaintances. Yet only the encounter
with the court architect Sinan will change the course of Jahan’s destiny: together they erect palaces
and mosques that will last for centuries. Yet at the same time, Jahan is drawn steadily deeper into the
vortex of political intrigue at court.
Moderator: Gabriele von Arnim, Speaker: Naomi Krauss
8/6/4€
9PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD POETRY NIGHT III
Poetry Night III: Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn dycki [Poland], Luke Fischer [Australia], and John
Mateer [South Africa/Australia]
Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki’s themes are comprised of the relationship between death and eroticism,
with burial and the dance macabre being recurring motifs of his work. The poet and literary scholar
Luke Fischer sees poetry as the conveyance and articulation of truth. His work as a poet is therefore
connected to his academic research. His poetry examines issues that also play a central role in his
research. John Mateer is fascinated by those historical currents and changes that span across multiple
cultures.
Moderator: Silke Behl, Speaker: Nina West
8/6/4€
9PM REFLECTIONS
Sigrid Weigel [Germany] on the literary content of Benjamin’s language
The style of Walter Benjamin, similarly enigmatic to that of his contemporary and companion Adorno,
compared »a lavish abundance and a wicker work, which reminds one of romantic arabesques and
ornaments« [Pierre Missac]. Though he wrote for a sociological and culturally scientific audience, his
works express distrust towards strictly factual writing. The director of the Center for Literary and
Cultural Reference in Berlin, known for her publications on Benjamin’s imagistic thoughts and his style,
assumes a position on the literary quality of Benjamin’s linguistic grasp, which hopes to find a
closeness to aesthetic experience and a rescue of the concrete somewhere between essay and
aphorism.
Moderator: Paul Ingendaay
8/6/4€
Ala Hlehel - »Lebwohl, Akkon«: Short stories from Israel
The Arab-Israeli’s short stories, already considered for numerous prizes, pull their strength from the
author’s rare talent for reduced style. Hlehel’s realistic, humorous narratives move in the tradition of
Palestinian literature from the likes of Emil Habibi and Ghassan Kanafani. Beginning with typical
situations in everyday life, the stories develop a parable-like or surreal character and demonstrate a
duplicity and injustice, as well as absurdity, contingency, and transience.
Moderator: Hussain Al-Mozany, Speaker: Matthias Scherwenikas
8/6/4€
A city between consumption and control: Omar Akbar [Germany] speaks with Xiaolu Guo
about the future of Beijing
Gigantic constructions and infrastructure, chaotic traffic, air pollution, parallel societies of the extreme
rich and poor, and the omnipresence of the Party shape the twelve-million-inhabitant metropolis of
Beijing. The impatient are evolving within their niches: the artists and those who oppose the status
quo. A city of contradictions, controlled by political power and seduced by consumption.
Free Entry
10.30PM SPECIALS MEETING OF YOUNG AUTHORS
Meeting of young German authors – Sirka Elspass, Lydia Dimitrow, Wolfram Lotz, Yulia
Marfutova, Marcella Melien und Fine Riebner
Texte des literarischen Nachwuchses presents the Meeting of Young German Authors, with which the
Berliner Festspiele has been on the search for literary talents for nearly 30 years. The participants
work on their texts in workshops and editorial discussions, interact with professional writers in an open
atmosphere, and strengthen their skills. For some, this is the beginning of a path into the realm of
professional literature.
Moderator: Daniela Seel
8/6/4€
13 09 SUNDAY
11AM SPECIALS GRAPHIC NOVEL DAY
A life between comic, literature, and film – illustrated discussion with Joann Sfar
The French, multitalented Joann Sfar doesn’t just draw, he also works as a writer and filmmaker. How
does the work in many different mediums come together? In his works, it is not just similar motifs that
cross over between media; he has even succeeded in the risky choice to film his comic strip »Die
Katze des Rabbiners«.
The event will be held in English.
The single ticket is valid for all events on Graphic Novel Day, 13.09.15.
8/6/4€
11AM REFLECTIONS
Andrea C. Hoffmann – on female emancipation in Islamic countries
The emancipation of women in Islamic countries is one of Hoffman’s most defining themes. At the 15th
ilb, the foreign editor for Focus will present impressive examples of women who have chosen very
different paths in life: 1. The Afghan army pilot Laitfa Nabizada, 2. The Saudi-Arabian Ensaf Haidar,
who fights for her husband’s release. 3. Jesidin Farida, who escaped from ISIS.
Moderator: Ulrike Guérot
8/6/4€
11AM SPECIALS THE ART OF LITERARY TRANSLATION
Frank Heibert – Presentation: The invisible third. On the art of literary translation
The love of reading and literature accompanies us throughout our lives, as readers we put our faith in
our favourite authors, and in turn they open for us the gates to the world. But who are these
leprechauns between the lines who we barely know, and what exactly do they do?
The single ticket is valid for all Art of Literary Translation events.
8/6/4€
11AM SPECIALS_ZUKUNFTSSTADT
A city in self-referential mode: Omar Akbar speaks with Peter Schneider on Berlin
Berlin, the once-divided city, presents itself today as the epicentre of contemporary art, a pulsing,
global metropolis in a state of constant change. Berlin still holds a magical attraction for young people
in particular. Is it just Hype? The constant debate of this question seems to be itself a part of the Berlin
hype. Berlin – is the city just self-referential and running in circles?
Free Entry
12PM SPECIALS GRAPHIC NOVEL DAY
The past as present – illustrated discussion with Michel Kichka [Belgium/ Israel] and Paco
Roca [Spain]
In his newest work, Michel Kichka gives us insights into his relationship with his father and his father’s
experiences during the time of National Socialism. Paco Roca’s work also deals with the past. His
graphic novel, »Die Heimatlosen«, follows Spanish soldiers during the second World War as they
team up with French soldiers to fight against the fascists they have already expelled from their own
country. What can be learned about and from the past? And what role does genre play?
The event will be held in English
8/6/4€
12.30PM SPECIALS THE ART OF LITERARY TRANSLATION
Panel discussion: The Stranger in the Mirror
Samar Yazbek [Author, Syria/ France], Larissa Bender [her translator, Germany] and Lucien
Leitess [publisher Unionsverlag, Switzerland]
The differences between the Arabian and Western worlds in culture, mentality, lifestyles and needs,
relevant to more than just literature and to which the regions respective religions also belong, are
multifaceted and volatile. All the more reason why background knowledge and intuition is required for
the approach and attempt to mutually understand the unique qualities of a foreign culture. Therefore,
we need to find points of connection. How does one transfer the culturally typical? What is within
reach, when does it become precarious?
Moderator: Leila Chammaa,
Arabic-German Translator: Günther Orth
8/6/4€
Opposition with the Pencil – illustrated discussion with Wiktoria Lomasko [Russia]
Wiktoria Lomasko has outdone herself as the artist behind the graphic novel »Verbotene Kunst«: an
illustrated processing of an actual legal case against the organizers of the exhibition »Forbidden Art
2006«, with which Lomasko and the journalist Anton Nikolajew developed a new form of reporting.
What does it mean to express critique of the judicial system with a drawing pencil?
8/6/4€
Graphic Novel Project »imagined realities« presented by the Goethe Institute Lagos with Bibi
Bakare-Yusuf [Nigeria], Elnathan John [Nigeria], Sylvia Ofili [Nigeria/ Sweden], Laolu Senbajo
[Nigeria], Johann Ulrich [Germany] and Birgit Weyhe [Germany]
The German.-Nigerian artists and authors present, together with the Goethe Institute Nigeria, the
bilingual graphic novel project »Imagined Realities« and discuss their work with respect to the two
graphic novels, which developed as a result of this collaboration.
This event will be held in English
8/6/4€
Between comic, caricature and contemporary history: illustrated discussion with Riad Sattouf
[France]
The well-known »Charlie Hebdo« illustrator Riad Sattouf uses his own childhood in the Arab world as
example, which he works through in his newest graphic novel series »The Arab of the Future« - a
reaction to the Arab spring and the political situation in the Arab world. Previously, he has focused on
the secret life of children and adolescents, which has been published in the three-volume series » La
vie secrete des jeunes«.
8/6/4€
3PM SPECIALS THE ART OF LITERARY TRANSLATION
Portrait of a Translator: Susanne Lange [German/ English]
The great Spanish language translator will present her lifes work, from which many of her muchlauded retranslations of »Don Quijote« [2008] by Miguel de Cervantes, which stands out as a
»polyphonic novel par excellence«. Reading and discussion.
Moderator: Albrecht Buschmann
8/6/4€
The Art of the City – architecture, urban development and social themes in comic. Discussion
followed by a reading with Matthias Gnehm [Switzerland]
Matthias Gnehm is a an architect and graphic novel author, and moves with this through two
professional fields that at first glance, could not be more different. Where so the points of connection
between these two different worlds lie? Where are the mutual influences recognizable? And what role
does art play in architecture?
8/6/4€
4.30PM SPECIALS
Hans Christoph Buch [Germany], Jorge Edwards [Chile/Spain], Marko Martin [Germany], and
Amir Valle [Cuba/Germany] speak about Cuba’s future after the reestablishment of diplomatic
relations with the United States
For the past few weeks, the state of Cuba is changing owing especially to the reestablishment of
diplomatic relations with the United States. Perhaps the most important renewal this summer: there is
now – finally – Wi-Fi on the island! So it is time, it seems, to sound out Cuba’s chances for a new
beginning with the authors that either come from the island, visit it, or, like Jorge Edwards, write a
book about it. In Edwards’ case, it was the resolution with Fidel Castro’s Cuba, where he was active as
a diplomat for Salvador Allende in the late 60s and early 70s.
Moderator: Jörg Petzold, Speaker: Denis Abrahams
8/6/4€
Aamer Hussein’s [Pakistan/ UK] short story collection »37 Bridges and other Stories«
In his short stories, Aamer Hussein tells of the search for an identity between Islam and Hinduism.
Himself the son of an Indian and a Pakistani, Hussein knows from his own experiences what it’s like to
be torn between cultures and religions. In »37 Bridges«, the reader is introduced to a plethora of
multidimensional Characters.
Moderator: Jörg Petzold, Speaker: Denis Abrahams
8/6/4€
Masatsugu Ono [Japan] – »Ein Gebet vor neun Jahren«
Ono’s novel, from which this collection takes its name, tells of single mother Sanae, who, after many
years in Canada and the separation from her husband, returns to her small hometown in Japan with
her son Kebin. On the journey over, her son suffers a sudden series of seisures. An empathetic story
about overcoming challenging circumstances and the difficult return to a now-foreign homeland. Ono’s
work was awarded the reknowned Akutagawa Prize in January of this year.
Moderator: Kayo Adachi-Rabe
8/6/4€
María Sonia Cristoff [Argentina] – » Lasst mich da raus«
Mara, a conference translator as depressed as she is misanthropic, just wants a little peace and quiet.
A year of it. At least. And so she takes a position as an attendant in a museum in her small city. This,
as it turns out, is one of the best ways to attract all kinds of catastrophes to herself, which culminate in
a breathtaking end. Sabotage, lunacy, and anarchy – if Thomas Bernhard were still alive, and if he
were a woman and lived in Argentina, this is the book he would write.
Moderator: Michi Strausfeld, Speaker: Regina Gisbertz
8/6/4€
»Visions 2030. Authors and Scientists on the Future of Cities« with Roddy Doyle [Ireland],
Angelika Fitz [Austria] and Adam Greenfield [USA/ UK]
The future can be influenced. This is the statement at the heart of Roddy Doyle’s image of the future.
But who makes the city? And who decides its future? The curator Angelika Fitz has dedicated herself
for some time to the global tendency to plan a city »from below«. Even Doyle reaches the conclusion
that it is not so much the authoritative urban planners who will determine how a city looks in the year
2030, but rather the citizens. As an expert on the effects of computerization on city life, IT visionary
Adam Greenfield rounds out the discussion.
Free Entry
6PM STROLL THROUGH LITERATURE | PREMIERE
RENAISSANCE-THEATER
Dominique Horwitz [France/ Germany] presents his debut novel »Tod in Weimar«
Dominique Horwitz is an actor, director, and singer. He acts regularly on the stage of the Berliner
Ensamble and the Deutsches Theater, and has also stood before the camera for »Stalingrad« and
»Der große Bellheim«. Now Horwitz will present his first novel with the fast-paced criminal-comedy
»Tod in Weimar«. With humor and love, Horwitz depicts a Weimar, in whose highly cultured setting
everyone wants to be an artist or else somehow make a name for themselves.
Tickets via Renaissance-Theater, Tel. 030. 312 42 02
15 / 10 / 10 €
7.30PM SPECIALS THE STATE OF FEMINISM III
The State of Feminism – with Laurie Penny [UK], Mona Eltahawy [Egypt/ USA] and Josephine
Decker [UK/ USA]
Where does Feminism stand? What does feminist thought, action, and artistic works mean today? The
renowned Egyptian activist and journalist Mona Eltahawy pleads for a sexual revolution in the Arab
world in her recently-published book »Warum hasst ihr uns so?« Director and performance artist
Josephine Decker conceptualizes in her films »Butter on the Latch« and »Thou wast Mild and Lovely«
a new aesthetic and a new view on femininity. In »Meat market«, Laurie Penny analyses the
commercialization of feminism in capitalism. In her most recent book »Unspeakable things – Sex, Lies,
and Revolution«, she contemplates modern feminism.
Moderator: Priya Basil
8/6/4€
David Foenkinos’ [France] biographical novel on Charlotte Salomon
Like many other artists pursued by the National Socialists, painter Charlotte Salomon slipped into
anonymity after her execution at the age of 26. With his novel »Charlotte«, Foenkinos has now
constructed a literary monument to the young painter, which displays her passion, tenderness, and
courage. »This is my whole life«, Salomon is supposed to have said, her imprisonment in sight, as she
entrusted her paintings to a doctor she had befriended, the very same paintings that were showed at
the last Documenta.
Moderator: Vincent von Wroblewsky, Speaker: Thomas B. Hoffmann
8/6/4€
Mohammed Hanif [Pakistan] – »Our Lady of Alice Bhatti«
Mohammed Hanif’s novel tells the story of the Catholic nurse and her adventures in Heart-Jesu
hospital in Karachi. With a refreshingly unromantic love story between Alice Bhatti and the Muslim
bodybuilder Teddy Butt, Hanif’s humour and fast pace is narratively convincing. As in »A Case of
Exploding Mangos«, Hanif understands how to convey the stories from his homeland of Pakistan with
political relevance and characters that leave an impression.
Moderator: Sigrid Löffler, Speaker: Matthias Scherwenikas
8/6/4€
8PM SPECIALS THE ART OF LITERARY TRANSLATION
Translator competition: »Fame requires every kind of excess« – Eva Bonné [Germany] and
Friedhelm Rathjen [Germany]
Two »sportingly« eloquent translators go head to head with their versions of an excerpt from an early
work of Don DeLillo [USA] never before translated into German. In readings and conversation, the
German texts and the original passage – projected on screen – will be compared and discussed. It’s
not about »right or wrong«, »better or worse«, but rather »different«, and the allure and risk of the
individual literary voice in the translation.
Moderator: Thomas Brovot
8/6/4€
8PM SPECIALS FUTURE OF CITIES
Omar Akbar [Germany] speaks with Masatsugu Ono [Japan] about the future of Tokyo
Although Japan’s population is decreasing and aging in the extreme, Tokyo belongs to one of the
most progressively growing regions in the country. Here about 10 million people live and work. Tightpacked buildings and a highly-developed infrastructure provide for the city, which flies in the face of all
warnings and is braced for likely earthquakes and tremors. Tokyo is one of the richest and most
expensive megacities in the world, yet despite this the social and economic insecurities like the
growing minimum wage sector, high rents, unemployment, poverty, and homelessness are piling up.
To this is added the collision between the handed-down traditions and the emancipation efforts. Due
to these factors, Tokyo’s future prospects remain ambivalent.
Free Entry
9PM SPECIALS | PREMIERE
LABO AGEN/ Invisible Words – An Arabic-German performance of music and literature.
Premiere. Gernot Wolfram – Lyrics [Germany], Cornelia Lanz – Mezzosoprano [Germany],
Ramadan Ali – Saz [Syria/ Germany] exploring the experience of refugees in a synthesis of the
arts
When you enter Germany as an »alien«, for example as a refugee, your first encounter with the
German language is usually in form of official questionnaires. In their performance, the author Gernot
Wolfram, the mezzo soprano Cornelia Lanz and the Syrian Saz-player and comedian Ramadan Ali
answer the »cold questions« of those questionnaires through literature and music. A performance
against alienation and feeling alien where the German national anthem is played on the Saz and
pieces from Schubert’s »Winterreise« are presented in Arabic colouring. An evening that recalls the
power of literature to unite people.
The event is held in cooperation with the »Board of Participation e.V.« and the integration officer of the
county Berlin. The International Literaturfestival Berlin reserves 40 free tickets for refugees in Berlin.
8/6/4€
Shukri Mabkhout [Tunisia] presents his debut novel »The Italian«
Having originally been censored in the Arabic world, it was only after receiving the International Prize
for Arabic Fiction that this novel became accessible for a wider audience. At the heart of the narration
is Abdel Nasser, called »The Italian«, who attacks the Imam at his father’s funeral. A close friend, the
unnamed narrator, tries to reconstruct the motif of the attack by recalling Nasser’s past: as a political
activist he fought against mechanisms of censorship and suppression. Gradually the narrator begins to
understand how deeply scarred that fight has left him.
Moderator: Günther Orth, Speaker: Friedhelm Ptok
8/6/4€
9PM FUTURE OF CITIES
A City of Myths: Omar Akbar speaks with Michael Cunningham [USA] about the future of New
York
The mere name triggers fantasies: New York, the city of unlimited possibilities. But this slogan covers
both success and failure. The city that has always stood for multiculturalism can today be proud of an
open and subtle process of gentrification. In spite of extreme contrasts, the myth of New York remains
unbroken.
Free Entry
14 09 MONDAY
6PM REFLECTIONS
Ahmed Rashid [UK/ Pakistan] discusses China’s »New Silk Road« with Arno Widmann
When it comes to global politics China likes to think big: the mega project of a Eurasian transfer route
along the paths of the old Silk Road is supposed to cross Central and Western Asia [Kazakhstan, Iran
and Iraq among other countries]; to run via Moscow to Germany [Duisburg] and Rotterdam. In
accordance with the historical model, even Venice is intended to play a role. The project aims to
strengthen China’s position as a global power; but it might also create new political and cultural bonds,
pacify areas of conflict through improvement of infrastructure and trade and encourage a restructuring
of current alliances of power and values.
8/6/4€
Joanna Bator [Poland] – searching for »Wolkenfern«
Bator’s first novel to be translated into German, »Sandberg«, made a lasting impression on critics. In
her narration, based on the eponymous district of the bleak Polish mining town where the author
herself grew up, portrays the constricted life in the Polish province. Many of her characters reappear in
her 2014 translated novel »Wolkenfern«, the Polish province, however, is now reduced to mere point
of reference in a panorama that covers several continents. It links the seemingly aimless wanderings
of two women on a restless search for an unknown home.
Moderator: Lisa Palmes, Speaker: Denis Abrahams
8/6/4€
Omar Akbar [Germany] and Leila S. Chudori [Indonesia] discuss the future of Jakarta
Jakarta, initially a synonym for the block-free states, by the mid 60s was dominated by anti-capitalist
violence that cost over one million lives. Today, this multi-religious city with over 14 million inhabitants
is a megacity with all the typical contradicting facets. Here, everything appears in extreme form:
wealth, poverty, commerce, underground economy, segregation, waste, air pollution, traffic, etc. The
city’s foundations are no longer able to support this density; it continually sinks below sea level.
Free Entry
7PM SPECIALS GRAPHIC NOVEL
INSTITUT FRANCAIS
Riad Sattouf [France] on his graphic novel »The Arab of the Future: a Childhood in the Middle
East [1978-1984]«
In reply to the troubled political situation in the Middle East, Riad Sattouf, one of France’s most
important comic artists, began to work on this prize winning Graphic Novel. At the ilb, the former
»Charlie Hebdo«-caricaturist, musician and filmmaker presents the first part of what is planned as a
Graphic Novel trilogy about his childhood in Syria and Lybia.
The event will be held in French.
8/6/4€
Kazuo Ishiguro’s [Japan/ UK] journey to mystic medieval England: »The Buried Giant«
The dark period when, after the Romans’ retreat, Britons and invading Saxons were fighting for the
abandoned province Britannia, a fight that is in many presentations dominated by the mythical figure
of King Arthur, also served as model for many of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic battles. Now, Ishiguro sends an
elderly couple into the cursed moors and misty woods of mediaeval England searching for their son.
The hallucinatory often dreamlike narration artfully combines saga, epic, and poetry into an uncanny
amalgam.
Moderator: Bernhard Robben, Speaker: Frank Arnold
8/6/4€
Ayman Sikseck [Israel] and Ala Hlehel [Palestine] in an Arabic-Hebrew literary dialogue
About 20 percent of the Israeli population – over one million people – have Arabic origins. In spite of
this, Hebrew literature is hardly ever translated into Arabic nor Arabic literature into Hebrew. Ayman
Sikseck is one of the few Arabic Israelis who write books in Hebrew. Ala Hlehel, however, also Arabic
Israeli, writes only in Arabic. At this event, both authors speak about the motivations behind their
respective choice of language. They inquire about the power of literature to connect people from
different ethnic backgrounds and how it can also be used against one another.
8/6/4€
7.30PM SPEAK, MEMORY
Uwe Wittstock [Germany] on Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Similarly worshiped and hated, read and discussed by everyone: hardly any other literary critic has
ever gained the same authority and recognition as Reich-Ranicki. Throughout his life his remained the
maybe most important and certainly most heard voice in German literary criticism. Uwe Wittstock
reads from the completely revised and extended biography.
»The biographer has succeeded in presenting Marcel Reich-Ranicki in all his diversity.« - Jochen
Kurten, Deutsche Welle
Moderator: Hans Christoph Buch
8/6/4€
7.30PM REFLECTIONS
Raza Rumi [Pakistan] – »Delhi by Heart«
When a Pakistani author and journalist writes about an Indian metropolis, the project is inevitably
shadowed by the conflict that marked the last decades: by the tension of extreme notions of national
identity and competing historiographies.
The book presents itself not as travel report nor as a balanced, linear history of the city; instead, it
depicts a very personal exploration of a cultural mosaic in form of reports, dialogues and an in depth
examination of history and tales of dynasties, kings and sages.
Moderator: Georg Diez
8/6/4€
Zsófia Bán [Brazil/ Hungary] – »When There Were Only Animals«
Jozsef Attila-laureate Zsófia Bán, who was raised in Brazil and Hungary, has worked in film studios, as
a curator and today teaches American Studies in Budapest. Violence, emigration, and alienation,
these are the topics that loosely link the stories in Bán’s »When There Were Only Animals«.
Moderator: Barbara Wahlster, Speaker: Regina Gisbertz
8/6/4€
LITERATURHAUS BERLIN Fireplace room
Leila S. Chudori [Indonesia] - »Home«
Jakarta 1998. Lintang Utara, daughter of the Indonesian Dimas Suryo who lives in exile in Paris,
directs a documentary on the events of 1965, the beginning of the Suharto era and the consequences
for the people concerned and their families. On her trip, she becomes involved in the student revolt in
the capital that will ultimately lead to Suharto’s fall. The novel artfully links modern history with the
personal story of its protagonists and unites them into a polyphonic choir.
Moderator: Sabine Vogel, Speaker: Tim Eberts
Meg Wolitzer’s [USA] novel »The Position« about the most enlightened teenagers in America
The Mellows’ four children are experiencing a teenage nightmare: their parents are nationally known
and the topic is all over the media. The reason for their iconic popularityis their incredibly successful
and of all things extremely detailed, illustrated sex manual, Pleasuring: The journey of a couple to
fulfilment. While the Mellows’ marriage is placed under the microscope, their children are desperately
seeking normalcy outside the sexual escapades of their parents.
Moderator: Gabriele von Arnim, Speaker: Marie Löcker
8/6/4€
9PM SPECIALS THE STATE OF FEMINISM IV
Mona Eltahawy [Egypt/ USA] for a sexual revolution in the Islamic world
In 2012, Newsweek elected Mona Eltahawy one of the most fearless women in the world. During the
protests in Tahrir square she was taken, abused. Eltahawy champions the rights of women in the
Islamic world despite pushback, and opposes populist Islam-critique just as vehemently: in 2012 she
was arrested in New York while spraying graffiti on an anti-Islamic poster. In her book, »Headscarves
and Hymens«, she pleads for a sexual revolution in the Islamic world.
8/6/4€
Ali Ghandtschi [Iran/ Germany] talks about the genesis of his book »Mein Israel – Juden und
Palästinenser erzählen«.
Photographer Ali Ghantschi was born in 1969 as the son of a Persian and a German. In 1980 he
moved with both parents to Berlin. When he travelled to Israel to photograph portraits of authors and
artists, he came away with not just photos, but also a series of recordings of these personal
conversations. Ghandtschi disregards the political in his questions and gave particular weight to
individual memory, yet in Israel even a childhood memory quickly becomes politics.
8/6/4€
Kevin Barry’s [Ireland] dystopian novel »City of Bohane«
Bohane is a corrupt metropolis, a dismal half-world full of slums, intrigue, and hoodlums. The
municipal area is controlled by the Hartnett-Fancy Gang, above all by their dapper leader, Logan
Hartnett. As his arch nemesis reappears after more than twenty-five years, trouble looms. With
Bohane, Kevin Barry has created a seductive, wild, evil, and at the same time, pleasing stage on
which a firework of modern art burst to life.
8/6/4€
Lance Olsen [USA] - »Theories of Forgetting«
In the hands of anyone other than the master and expert of experimental narration would this gamble,
innovative even in its layout, shrivel away to a gimmick. The essence of Olsen’s work takes this one
step further, weaving together two, if not three, parallel narratives, as physically intertwined as they are
separate.
Moderator: Barbara Wahlster
8/6/4€
15 09 TUESDAY
4PM LITERATURE BEHIND BARS
JVA MOABIT
Prison reading with Zsófia Bán [Brazil/Hungary]
Closed Event
Banana Yoshimoto [Japan] – »Moshi Moshi«, a declaration of love for life and Tokyo’s artist
district Shimokitazawa
The sudden, apparently groundless double-suicide of her father and a stranger is a shattering blow to
twenty year-old Yotchan. With the move to Tokyo’s art and scene district Shimokitazawa, Yotchan
attempts to begin anew, which results in an unexpected cohabitation with her mother.
Moderator: Knut Elstermann
8/6/4€
HAUS DER BERLINER FESTSPIELE_Side Stage
Frank Witzel [Germany] – »Die Erfindung der Roten Armee Fraktion durch einen manischdepressiven Teenager im Sommer 1969«
From the perspective of a thirteen year-old boy, author and musician Frank Witzel tells of the political
events in West Germany
8/6/4€
6PM LITERATURES OF THE WORLD PREMIERE
Amir Hassan Cheheltan [Iran] – »Der Kalligraph von Isfahan«
Amir Hassan Cheheltan tells the story of Isfahan in 1722, of survival, forbidden love and escape, of
war and hunger, of the clash of religious cultures, and of the eternal struggle of fundamentalist
ascetics against wine, music and dance, poetry and their own truth.
Moderator: Stefan Zweifel, Speaker: Friedhelm Ptok
8/6/4€
6PM REFLECTIONS
Wolfgang Kaleck [Germany] gives an account of the work of the European Centre for
Constitutional and Human Rights [ECCHR]
The Berlin lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck has been recognized internationally not least for his role as the
German lawyer of Edward Snowden. In 2007 he founded along with other international lawyers the
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights [ECCHR] in Berlin, of which he has since been
General Secretary. The organization initiates, leads, and supports juristic proceedings worldwide, in
order to legally pursue human rights infractions both of the state and otherwise. The themes and
cases of the ECCHR stretch from the misdirection of the militaristic dictatorship in Argentina under the
torture methods of US Minister of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, to a lawsuit filed against the German
engineering firm Lahmeyer when their construction of a dam in Sudan lead to the displacement of
people. Kaleck summarizes the first years of the ECCHR and presents an overview of the work of the
coming years.
8/6/4€
»Visions 2030. Authors and Scientists on the Future of Cities« with Kevin Barry [Ireland], Helon
Habila [Nigeria/ USA], Martina Löw [Germany], and Zeynep Aygen [Turkey]
In his vision for the year 2030, Irish author Kevin Barry turns his hometown via limerick. His piece
paints a picture of a post-human society, which incorporates not only elements of a dystopia after
Orwell or Huxley, but also touches on motifs of his debut novel »City of Bohane«. In Barry’s »beautiful
new world«, even people’s feelings are controlled by the state. What is left is the longing after what
has been lost.
Helon Habila’s narrations, taking place in the impoverished area Ajegunle, the biggest slum in Lagos,
focus on the longing to climb the social ladder, as professional football seems to promise him. With
this theme the Nigerian author touches on a central problem of the future, as already more than a
billion people are living in such so-called informal sectors today. Prognoses expect this number to
double by 2030 and even triple by 2050. This means that already in the course of the next generation
every third person on earth will live in a slum. Are we steering ourselves into a post-human society?
How can cities deal with this process of converting to slums? The authors will discuss these questions
together with the urban sociologist Martina Löw and Zeynep Aygen.
Free Entry
6.15PM SPECIALS
PUBLIC LIBRARY BERLIN DIETRICH-BONHOEFFER-SAAL
Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel [Germany] – Romantic flowers, Maurice Ravel, and fart powder –
literary translation as an exercise in diversity of style and content. A workshop with Hinrich
Schmidt-Henkel
Literary translators write creatively – and on top of this, in the style and voice of many different
authors. This linguistic role-play that is required of them, the multidimensional embodiment and
transformation make this job in »artistic public service« so appealing. Hinrich Schmidt.Henkel shows
this in this workshop using examples from his own work: Henrk Wergeland, Jean Echenoz, and Jo
Nesbo.
In cooperation with the Public Library of Berlin.
Free Entry
Roddy Doyle [Ireland] - »The Guts«
With »The Commitments« in 1987 Doyle garnered sensational success. The book series about the
front man of the punk band of the same achieved cult status in Ireland as well as countless enthused
readers. Yet now the book’s protagonist Jimmy Rabbitte is 47 years old, happily married – and
suffering from colon cancer. He finally felt safe in his circle of friends and family, and now he needs
new perspectives. When he runs into two former band mates in a pub one night, he recaptures his wild
past and challenges illness to a fight.
Awarded the Irish Book Award 2013.
8/6/4€
7.30PM REFLECTIONS
Wole Soyinka [Nigeria/USA] in conversation about »Terror«
The Islamist group »Boko Haram« (translated among others as »Books are sin«, »Western training
forbidden«, »modern upbringing is a sin«, »the delusion of false facts is a shame«) is part of the socalled Islamic State since March 2015. Across Nigeria they follow the memory of the Sharia and the
ban on western education. Nobel laureate in literature Wole Soyinka speaks with Priya Basil about the
genesis of this radical current and the question, how individuals, NGOs and political formations can
put a stop to crimes against humanity, such as those committed by this group and other factions
worldwide.
15 / 12 / 8 €
7.30PM REFLECTIONS I PREMIERE
Wolfgang Herles’ [Germany] »Die Gefallsüchtigen – Gegen Konformismus in den Medien und
Populismus in der Politik« with Lutz Hachmeister [Germany]
Openly right-biased television is attracting more and more critique in Germany. On the one hand, the
radio establishments thoroughly assert their apparent commitment to education, yet on the other hand
they have succumbed to the constant quotation-mania just like private channels. Do we even still need
the openly right? Wolfgang Herles, long-time political forward-thinker for the ZDF, lays out the
dangerous connections between the domination of public opinion and populist reporting, and
questions the possibility of a program that would be worth its fees.
Moderator: Knut Elstermann
8/6/4€
7.30PM SPECIALS PHILOSOPHY
Alexander García Düttmann [Spain/ Germany] and Christoph Menke [Germany]: »Was weiß
Kunst? Für eine Ästhetik des Widerstands«
Art fosters rebellion, because art makes knowledge lunatic – this is the thesis Alexander Garcia
Düttman advocates in his book: »Was weiss Kunst? Für eine Ästhetik des Widerstands«. In
conversation with Christoph Menke, he will debate the question of what the discourse on an aesthetic
of rebellion can mean in times of a growing absorption of art by commerce.
8/6/4€
A city between growth, creativity and poverty: Omar Akbar [Germany] speaks with Sónia
Gomes [Angola] about the future of Luanda
Coastal promenades, skyscrapers, old city, luxury homes, and slums paint a picture of a melange,
which, after the confusion of civil war, made this city one of the most expensive in the world. In the
juggernaut, riches collide with poverty and the creatives evolve in society. Seldom has such a speed of
transformation been good for a city’s development. Will the mixture of chaos and creativity lead to a
positive sustainability?
Free Entry
PALAIS IN DER KULTURBRAUEREI
Martin Amis’ [UK/ USA] book premiere »The Zone of Interest«
It is love at first sight that hits Golo Thomsen like a bolt of lightening when he meets Hannah Doll. Yet
the setting of this story, which could have been a classical love story, is the extermination camp
Auschwitz. SS-agent Thomsen works for the Buna-Werke, and Hannah is the wife of the camp’s
commander. In his controversial novel, Amis throws a harsh light on the milieu of the perpetrators and
circles the utter incomprehensibility of the NS-operation.
Moderator: Jörg Tadeusz
In cooperation with, and tickets available via, the Georg Büchner Buchladen at Kollwitzplatz and
Kulturbrauerei.
12 / 10 / 10 €
Samar Yazbek’s [Syria] »Gestohlene Revolution – Reise in mein zerstörtes Syrien
With »Scream for Freedom«, Samar Yazbek established herself in 2012 as chronicler of the Arab
spring in Syria. Since then she had returned to her homeland multiple times and now delivers a report
as horrifying as it is stirring on the region in which peaceful protests developed into armed rebellion
and then to civil war, from which radical Islamist groups profit most. At the same time, she portrays the
few who join for an end to the spiral of violence and refuse to give up hope for a peaceful Syria.
Moderator: Larissa Bender, Speaker: Marie Löcker
8/6/4€
9PM SPECIALS SCRITTURE GIOVANI
»Home« – four young European writers write about home – with Valerie Fritsch [Germany], Llŷr
Gwyn Lewis [UK], Marco Parlato [Italy] and Elske Rahill [Ireland]
Since 2002, a volume of the short stories written by »Scritture Giovani« participants appears annually.
Within: short stories from selected young authors on changing themes. This year the Austrian photoartist and author Valerie Fritsch, the literary scholar Llyr Gwyn Lewis from Wales, the Italian Marco
Parlato, and the Irish actress and dramatist Elske Rahill, who will present their pieces on the topic
»Home« at the literature festival in Kells [Wales], Mantua, and Berlin.
Moderator: Theresia Enzensberger
8/6/4€
Stefan Zweifel [Switzerland] on Dadaism
On February 5th, 1916 Hugo Ball founded, along with his girlfriend Emmy Hennings, not far from
Lenin’s exile apartment, the Cabaret Voltaire, Spiegelstrasse 1, Zürich. In connection, the literature
and art movement Dada will be called to life by Tristan Tzara, Richard Huelsenbeck, Hans Arp, and
Marcel Janco. Zweifel curates together with Juri Steiner the project »SOS Dada« in the Kunstbiennale
Salon Suisse in Venice 2015.
8/6/4€
16 09 WEDNESDAY
City out of Control: Omar Akbar [Germany] speaks with Kamila Shamsie [Pakistan/ UK],
Mohammed Hanif [Pakistan] and H. M. Naqvi [UK/ Pakistan] about the future of Karachi
Karachi, once the »city of lights« is turning into an asphalt jungle representing conflicting interests.
Here creativity, affluence, suffering, and criminality gather together. The city of 23-million inhabitants is
revoking traditional regulation and control mechanisms. The future is manifesting in Karachi’s megaagglomeration with diverse cultures of living and working and without governmental ties.
Free Entry
6PM REFLECTIONS
INSTITUTIO CERVANTES
The difficult route towards peace in Columbia – with Juan Esteban Constaín [Columbia] and
Laura Restrepo [Columbia/ Spain]
Moderation: Michi Strausfeld
Since 1964 two groups of Guerrilla fighters – FARC and ELN – have been battling the Columbian
government. The result of 51 years of warfare is shocking: seven million Columbians were and still are
directly affected by the war and its aftermath; 220,000 people were killed. Apart from displacement,
the population has to endure kidnappings, blackmail, land mines, drug-related crime etc. For more
than two years, the government in Santo has been negotiating a ceasefire with the FARC: a difficult
process.
Moderator: Michi Strausfeld
8/6/4€
JVA TEGEL
Prison Reading with Normal Ohler [Germany]
Closed Event
City of Contradictions: Omar Akbar [Germany] speaks with Mircea Cărtărescu [Romania] about
the future of Bucharest
Bucharest, also known as »little Paris«, was thoroughly destroyed. As a replacement, Nicolae
Ceausescu had his primitive, monstrous palace built in the city’s center.
Free Entry
7PM SPECIALS PHILOSOPHY
Philipp Felsch [Germany] – After Theory: the end of the revolt?
»The long summer of theory« tells of the intellectual landscape of West Berlin in the 60s, 70s, and
80s. Philipp Felsch, cultural scholar at the Humboldt University, follows the creation and development
of the Berliner Merve Verlag and its »poorly made books«, which made their way through the scene to
– their natural habitat – the museum shops. Was it the same way with the intellectual revolt? Philipp
Felsch in conversation with Michael Rutschky on theory and society, art and politics, reading and
bourgeoisie.
Moderator: Michael Rutschky
HIENRICH-VON-KLEIST LIBRARY
Joanna Bator’s [Poland] »Wolkenfern« - on foreignness and the search for home
Joanna Bator’s new novel weaves the story of a roundabout journey taken by two women without a
clear goal in their restless search for an unknown home. Dominika carries her longing from Munich to
New York to London until she finds the place she wants to stay. Many of the characters from Bator’s
first novel to be translated into German, »Sandberg«, return in the 2014 translated »Wolkenfern«, yet
the Polish province remains only a point of reference in a panorama that stretches over continents.
Moderator: Marina Georgi, Speaker: Denis Abrahams
8/6/4€
Kamila Shamsie [Pakistan/ UK] - »A God in Every Stone«
In the heat of summer 1914, the young Englishwoman Vivian travels to Labraunda, Turkey for
archaeological excavations. There she meets the archaeologist Tahsin Bey. While the First World War
spreads destruction everywhere, for these two begins an untroubled time.
One year later Tahsin Bey has vanished. On her search for him Vivian meets the repatriate Qayyum
Gul, ignorant of the fateful turn this encounter will give her story.
»Kamila Shamsie has extraordinary narrative power.« - Salman Rushdie
Moderator: Gabriele von Arnim, Speaker: Tina Engel
8/6/4€
Richard Flanagan [Australia] – »The Narrow Road to the Deep North«
Flanaghan’s latest novel depicts the horrors of the POW labour camps on the deadly Thailand-Burma
Railway through the eyes of Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans. While he is fighting to keep his men
alive, he is haunted by memories of his love affair with Amy, his uncle’s young wife; until he receives a
letter that will change his life forever. As a veteran, Evans now lives in Australia and has become a
hero of the post-war era. Shortly after his wedding with Ella he begins the first of many affairs. The
book’s power lies in the opposition of past and present, love and death.
»In ›The Narrow Road to the Deep North‹ we see Flanagan at his best.« - The Guardian
Moderator: Bernhard Robben, Speaker: Christian Berkel
8/6/4€
INSTITUTO CERVANTES
Juan Esteban Constaín [Columbia] – »!Calcio!« and »Der Mann, der nicht Donnerstag war«
Since the publication of »!Calcio!« [2012], a story about the invention of football in Italy in the year
1530 [much to Britain’s aggravation], Columbian author Juan Esteban Constaín [*1979] is considered
one of the most intriguing voices of his country. His latest work, »Der Mann, der nicht Donnerstag
war«, surprises its readers with its unconventional research on the attempt to canonize G. K.
Chesterton.
Moderator: Michi Strausfeld, Speaker: Matthias Scherwenikas
8/6/4€
Sonia Gómes [Angola] describes contemporary Luanda in »The General’s Daughter«
In her first novel »A filha do general« [Die Tochter des Generals, 2011] Sonia Gómes describes the
city of Luanda as it is today. She is concerned with everyday situations in the life of a wealthy young
woman, a real estate agent, who tries to establish herself in a rapidly changing environment. Two
chapters from the novel have already been published in German in »Mögen Pitangas wachsen.
Literatur aus Angola – Ein zweisprachiges Lesebuch«.
Moderator: Manuela Sambo, Speaker: Tatiana Nekrasov
8/6/4€
8PM REFLECTIONS
HEILIG-KREUZ-KIRCHE
Wole Soyinka [Nigeria/ USA] in conversation about displacement
In the year 2014 alone, the count of international refugees was up to 38 million – due to terrorism,
economy or warfare. Populations in Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Southern Sudan, and the Democratic
Republic of Congo were particularly affected. Wole Soyinka talks with Georg Diez about causes of,
and strategies against, displacement, which are also relevant for Europe: 646,000 people fled their
homes in the Ukraine in 2014.
15 / 12 / 8 €
8.30PM SPECIALS | PREMIERE
Ulrich Wickert [Germany] constructs a political affair in »Schloss in der Normandie«
When Parisian lawyer Jacques Ricou presses charges for corruption and white slavery against the
president of Equatorial Guinea, he has no way of anticipating the far-reaching political effects his
actions will have. He is in danger of falling victim to an intrigue that seems to involve, among others,
the French President and his own boss.
Moderator: Christine Eichel
8/6/4€
Stefan Zweifel [Switzerland] – »Shades of Sade«
There is hardly anyone in the German-speaking realm who better deserves the title »de Sade expert«
than Stefan Zweifel and his colleague Michel Pfister. For years they have been translating de Sade’s
texts and have dedicated their work to the in depth examination of their contents, just as they have
done in their latest book »Shades of Sade«. Not only does the book grapple with the life’s work of the
philosopher, it also offers an introduction to, and reading instructions for, his work.
8/6/4€
»Home Boy« – H. M. Naqvi’s [UK/Pakistan] gripping novel about three Pakistanis in New York
AC, Jimbo and Chuck enjoy their excessive metropolitan life to the fullest. When after 9/11 they are
mistakenly arrested under suspicion of terrorist activity and detained by the police for two days, their
idealized image of a free America begins to crumble. Naqvi tells the wild story of these young men on
their adventurous search for a new home in rapid style and with a sharp eye for detail.
Moderator: Arno Widmann, Speaker: Jan Uplegger
8/6/4€
9PM SPECIALS
New German Voices with Mercedes Lauenstein [Germany] and Jakob Nolte [Germany]
Theresia Enzensberger, journalist and editor of »Block« magazine, presents two young Gernan
authors: Mercedes Lauanstein’s protagonist spends her nights roving around, searching the streets.
Not for someone, and maybe not even anything.
Dramatist Jacob Nolte, whose pieces have already been staged at several occasions, is searching as
well, but for a murderer. In »Alff« he composes for his investigations a High-School-Mystery-Thriller
against the backdrop of a stylised reproduction of 1990s New England.
Moderator: Theresia Enzensberger
8/6/4€
Amir Hassan Cheheltan [Iran] – »Iranische Dämmerung«
Cheheltan describes in vivid colours the cultural and political life of the Shah era: the former theatre
life in Teheran, its cafés and the traditional life in the different districts of the city. In February 2007,
»Iranische Dämmerung« was elected best novel of the year in Iran. Cheheltan refused the award
because of the interventions by censorship. At the ilb he presents the first authorised complete edition.
Moderator: Jörg Petzold, Speaker: Friedhelm Ptok
8/6/4€
17 09 THURSDAY
A city torn between change, danger and loss: Omar Akbar [Germany] speaks with Boualem
Sansal [Algeria] about the future of Algiers
The name Algiers stands for the beauty of a North-African and Mediterranean city, whose duality is
mirrored in its historic center and colonial structure. The modernization process of the last decades
has hardly made any positive contributions. Despite certain democratisation and prosperity, in
comparison to other Mediterranean cities, Algiers seems to have lost its significance.
Free Entry
Panel in the program »Visions 2030. Authors and Scientists on the Future of Cities« with
Mircea Cărtărescu [Romania], Sónia Gomes [Angola], Helmut Rechberger [Austria] and Jasmin
Wiefek [Germany]
Dreams are the stuff cities are made of for the gifted writer Mircea Cartarescu. His vision of the future
leads into the »inner city«, which is constantly recreated from ancient memories. At the panel, this
master of morbid fantasy meets the Angolan writer Sónia Gomes, who uses sober language to tell a
moving story, which is marked by the experience of civil war but appeals to a better future.
In the dream worlds of the Romanian writer, the great aspirations of urban science become reality:
they are entirely recyclable. The two authors discuss the city on the threshold between dream and
reality with Helmut Rechberger, professor of resource and waste management, and Jasmin Wiefek,
psychologist and researcher for sustainability.
Free Entry
Jenny Erpenbeck’s [Germany] novel »Gehen, ging, gegangen« deals with her encounters with
refugees
Richard, an emeritus professor, deals with the big questions in life. He fights against loss and his fears
while time always seems to work against him. A chance encounter at Oranienplatz, Berlin, brings him
into contact with a group of young refugees from Africa. Not only do they seem to be much closer to
answers to his questions than he is, they also introduce the aging European to a completely new
perspective on himself and his world.
Moderator: Barbara Wahlster
8/6/4€
Norman Manea [Romania/ USA] – »Wir sind alle im Exil«
Deported to a Ukrainian concentration camp as a child, Manea returns to Rumania in 1945 together
with his surviving family, only to immigrate via West Germany to the US in 1987 after ongoing tensions
with censors and the conformist press. His sociocritical novels, narrations, and essays distinguish him
as one of Romania’s most important contemporary writers. In the various essays in this collection, he
contemplates the contradictions of life between East and West, the question of his Jewish identity, and
the relation between exile, language, and writing.
Moderator: Ernest Wichner, Speaker: Frank Arnold
8/6/4€
HEILIG-KREUZ-KIRCHE
Laura Restrepo [Columbia/ Spain] –»The Isle of Passion«
In 1908, in order to protect the Clipperton Islands, a tiny atoll in the Pacific, against a highly unlikely
attack by the French, a small delegation of eleven soldiers, the Mexican captain Ramon Amaud, and
his young wife Alicia, set course for the island. A ship bringing supplies is expected three months later.
With political unrest spreading in their home country and the beginning of WW I underway in Europe,
the group on the island in the middle of the ocean is simply forgotten. It is young, inexperienced Alicia
who ultimately musters the courage to plan their escape.
Moderator: Rilke Bolte, Speaker: Regina Gisbertz
8/6/4€
7.30PM REFLECTIONS
INSTITUTO CERVANTES
César Rendueles [Spain]: Sociophobia – Political change in the age of digital utopia.
Social media functions as a cure-all for the fragility of our globalized nomadic lifestyle. Cyberpolitics
target our weakened democracies to try and resuscitate them. Cesar Rendueles criticizes this hope as
naïve »Cyber-fetishism«. With an intuition for large historical arcs and a talent for beating theoretical
sparks out of pop cultural references reminiscent of Slavoj Zizek, Rendueles poses that political
change will only be possible when we overcome our »sociophobia«, our fear of cooperating with
others.
Moderator: Raul Zelik
8/6/4€
Dieter Bachmann [Switzerland] – Medusa’s Gardens
Bachmann’s heroes are isolated figures, hermits, refugees of the world, and misanthropes. After
»Grimsels Zeit« he turned away from people altogether with »Unter Tieren«. So the primary
protagonists of his newest work as well, the passengers of the cruise vessel »MS Medusa«, not
human. The ship only takes gardens on board, the most famous retreat islands across Europe, along
with a small following of gardeners and admirers. Among the strolling people: the writer’s own alter
ego, which in flashback to memories, observations, and thoughts, considers the wins and losses in his
life.
Moderator: Wilfred F. Schoeller
8/6/4€
8PM REFLECTIONS
HEINRICH-BÖLL-STIFTUNG
»Kongo« - on the effects of destructive power and a young democracy: with David Van
Reybrouck [Belgium]
»Time is a machine that grinds up life; that’s what I have learned in writing this book, but now and
again there are people, who grind up time«, so writes Van Reybrouck in the forward of his work, which
leads the reader masterfully and compellingly through the history of the African country. From the
colonialist tyranny, through the 32-year dictatorship, and up until the present, the author reports from
the perspectives of those who suffer, struggle, and live in their country. A conversation about people in
history, the difficult path since independence, the brutality of ongoing conflicts, and connections in the
world.
Free Entry
8.30PM SPECIALS PHILOSOPHY
Politics for Sale – Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak [India/ USA] on Bengali poetry and the current
political situation
»Does it remain our task as members of a visible minority to enlighten the west, or could we also
speak about the political possibilities that develop out of our own spaces? Is it possible to think of
›colonialism ‹ as a scapegoat? Does the idea of ›empowerment‹ turn against itself?
Spivak, 2012 Kyoto Prize winner, is regarded as one of the most critical and challenging thinkers of
the globalized present. As the founding figure of postcolonial theory, she analyses at the highest
intellectual level the political structures that determine today’s world connections. In the context of this
event, she will read Bengali poetry and investigate the methods of opposition through practical
translation work.
Moderator: Nikita Dhawan and María do Mar Castro Varela
8/6/4€
Adelle Waldman [USA] talks about the wild but unsatisfying »Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.«
Things could hardly be better for Nathaniel Pivet: he’s finally arrived in Brooklyn’s hip journalist scene,
and doors are opening all around him. Trendy magazines and attractive women are cropping up in his
vicinity. As he meets the self-assured Hannah, it appears that even a serious relationship is on the
horizon – yet Nate is completely incapable of letting her in. Sharp-witted, pointed, and often comically,
Adelle Waldman portrays a young man, who has everything and yet is missing quite a bit. A chronicle
of personal failure.
Moderation: Bernhard Robben, Speaker: Naomi Krauss
8/6/4€
9PM SPECIALS THE STATE OF FEMINISM V
Ways of liberation? J. Jack Halberstam [US] – for more emancipative punk
J. Jack Halberstam argues for a punk-feminism that doesn’t long for affirmation or respect, but instead
uses twisted and wild ways to express its anger, its pain, and not lastly its wit.
Halberstam, whose outstanding works over the last few years include »In a Queer Time and Place« or
»The Queer Art of Failure«, is respected as one of the most valuable gender-theorists in the USA.
Appearing most recently is the book »Gaga Feminism«, which evaluates emancipative potential the
pop-icon Lady Gaga.
Moderator: Frederike Kaltheuner
8/6/4€
Lloyd Jones [New Zealand] – »A History of Silence: A Memoir« & »Hand Me Down World«
After the 2011 earthquake that destroyed the New Zealand city of Christchurch, Jones was inspired by
his father, who had travelled, 80 years prior, to the reconstruction site of the Napier quake. With
images of the suburban front lawns with the earth torn open begins for Jones a series of observations
that connects the event by winding paths with his own family history. Roots he had never detected
have now been thrust into the present by the gaping earth. In literary self-discovery, he now searches
for what his mother’s wounded silence and his father’s stoic apathy had always been hiding.
Moderator: Katharina Döbler, Speaker: Sven Philipp
8/6/4€
18 09 FRIDAY
A City in Search of Consolidation: Omar Akbar [Germany] speaks with Laura Restrepo
[Columbia/ Spain] about the future of Bogotá
For a long time, the external perception of Bogota was linked to the power of drug cartels and the
influence of the guerrilla organization M-19. The current municipality of the city of seven million
inhabitants seems to have succeeded in keeping a noticeable peace. Yet the city continues to teeter
on an edge between affluence and criminality, and seems in its current state to fulfil all requirements
for creative development.
Free Entry
6PM SPECIALS CITY OF THE FUTURE | CLOSING EVENT
Panel in the context of the program »Visions 2030. Authors and Scientists on the Future of
Cities« with Hildegard Matthies [Germany], Philipp Misselwitz [Germany], Laura Restrepo
[Columbia/Spain] and Boualem Sansal [Algeria]
The visions of Columbian author Laura Restrepo and Algerian author and Peace Prize award winner
Boualem Sansal will conclude the roundel of the »Future of Cities« series. Killer, cocaine, and
organized crime still shape Columbia’s image today. Restrepo doesn’t doubt this image for a second.
»Nobody can control that bedlam, impossible«, says a key sentence in her exemplary, straightway
allegorically excessive narrative about the violent reality of her homeland. The control-mania of city
planners and politicians, which escalates into totalitarianism, stands at the center of Sansal’s vision for
the future. With the architect and urban planner Philipp Misselwitz, a representative will be in
attendance of the very group, which in Sansal’s narrative sees before it the diffifcult dilemma: »to save
the planet and to ensure the security of the population – and/or to preserve the freedoms of the
citizens.« The PhD social scientist Hildegard Matthies will oversee the panel discussion.
Free Entry
6PM SPECIALS PHILOSOPHY
INSTITUT FRANÇAIS
Gayatri Spivak [India /USA], J. Jack Halberstam [USA], Alexander García Düttmann [Spain/
Germany], Armen Avanessian [Austria/ Germany] – Aesthetics of Resistance
Climate crisis, financial crisis, extreme suffering in the »third world«, increasing erosion of democratic
structures, and a globally visible strengthening of extreme right powers – enormous challenges are
facing the global community. At the same time, more and more people are turning away from politics
in disappointment. What meaning is ascribed to literature in this situation? Is the discourse from an
aesthetic of resistance still relevant? How should we even conceive of resistance today? In this event,
Gayatri Spivak, Jack Halberstam, Alexander Garcia Düttmann and Armen Avanessian come together
to build bridges between the positions of philosophy, literature, postcolonial theory and gender studies.
Moderator: Phillipp Felsch
8/6/4€
INSTITUTO CERVANTES
Horacio Castellanos Moya [El Salvador] – »The Dream of my Return«
Twice deported from his homeland, Castellanos Moya’s dream is a personal one. With dry humor and
an appropriate serving of self-deprecation, his protagonist Erasmo Aragon, shaped by civil war,
reveals a story just as captivating as it is discombobulated. A ruthless look into the exiled writer’s soul.
Upon the 1997 publication of the novel »El Asco. Thomas Bernhard in San Salvador« the author
received death threats. Today, Horacio Moya lives in the USA.
Moderator: Michi Strausfeld, Speaker: Denis Abrahams
8/6/4€
7.30PM SPECIALS | PREMIERE
Iris Radisch [Germany] – »Die letzten Dinge«
For many years, Iris Radisch has been holding discussions with authors and philosophers of advanced
age. They look back openly and honestly at what they have experienced and concern themselves with
the significance of age for creativity. »Die letzten Dinge« includes seventeen of these »end of life
talks«, including among others Amoz Oz, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Günther Grass, Ruth Klüger, Martin
Walser, Antonio Tabucci, and Ilse Aichinger.
Moderator: Wilhelm Schmid
8/6/4€
HEILIG-KREUZ-KIRCHE
David Van Reybrouck’s [Belgium] - »Congo – a History of a People«
In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Congo’s independence, Van Reybrouck set out on the
search for the history of the region around the Congo basin. Beginning in pre-colonial times, the
historical events are told in an easily comprehensible and captivating way. On his journey through the
Congo, during which he held countless interviews and discussions, Van Reybrouck tries to capture the
multiple ways of looking at the history of this river in order to counteract the danger of a Eurocentric
point of view.
Moderator: Barbara Wahlster, Speaker: Thomas B. Hoffmann
8/6/4€
Kenneth Bonert’s [South Africa/ Canada] family and picaresque novel »The Lion Seeker«
As a young boy, Isaac leaves Lithuania in 1924 for a Jewish ghetto in Johannesburg. Not very
successful in school, he quickly makes colourful acquaintances in the Johannesburg underworld.
While his father constantly pines for their old homeland, his mother is determined to make the best she
can out of her new life. Even Isaac soon learns that this place is only about one thing: eat or be eaten.
»The Lion Seeker« is a gripping family saga and sparking picaresque novel all in one. Moderator:
Shelly Kupferberg, Speaker: Matthias Scherwenikas
8/6/4€
19 09 SATURDAY
7.30 PM REFLECTIONS
Éric Vuillard [France] draws on the bizarre history of the »Congo« in order to reconsider
aspects of European colonial culture
In his »rhapsodic stories«, Vuillard utilizes the historic episodes of the Belgian Congo as a backdrop
for his fictional narratives. The repertoire of his fictional exploration of this colonial era side story
ranges from anger to incredulous astonishment and satire. Contextually overlapping philosophical
themes, like the rationalization of human cruelty and the human drive for affluence and power, contrast
with individual impressions, which Vuillard’s dialogue and storytelling help along to a liveliness rich in
detail.
Moderation: Vincent von Wroblewsky, Sprecher: Thomas B: Hoffmann
8/6/4€
8PM REFLECTIONS
David Van Reybrouck [Belgium] questions the future of democracy
Representative democracy is in significant crisis in the face of lowered voter turnout, fatal immobility,
and the alarming success of populism. Reybrouck looks for new and revised forms of the political in
experiment, theory, and poetry. He conducted a grassroots-democratic experiment for a
representatively selected citizen’s council and wrote new lyrics for the Europahymne using the words
for »bread« in 70 European languages. With the soon-to-appear-in-German work »Against Elections«,
he attacks the rigid associations pertaining to »democracy« and »elections«.
8/6/4€
Drago Jančar [Slovenia] – »Die Nacht, als ich sie sah« about the disappearance of a fascinating
young woman
Drago Jancar’s new novel, inspired by true events, tells the story of Veronika Zarnik and her husband
Leo. In 1944, Tito-partisans abducted the two Solvenians from their palace without leaving a trace. UP
until that moment, Veronika had lead a colourful life as a pilot and lover of parrots, alligators, and
horses.
Moderator: Friederike Jacob, Speaker: Roland Schäfer
8/6/4€
Zeruya Shalev [Israel] tells of physical and emotional border experiences in »Schmerz«
Iris is a survivor of a terror attack. Every day she suffers unending pains against which her reliable, yet
boring, husband and her children can do nothing. When she meets her first love again unexpectedly,
she believes she could escape everything: the pain, the marriage, the restrictions of family. But can
the rekindled relationship heal her old wounds? Zeruya Shalev explores the depths and limits of love
in this portrait.
Moderator: Shelly Kupferberg, Speaker: Maria Schrader
8/6/4€
20 09 SUNDAY
5PM LITERATURE ON CELLULOID
KINO FILMKUNST 66
»Le beau danger« film screening with René Frölke [Germany] and Norman Manea [Romania/
USA]
Norman Manea, born 1936 in Bukowina, was deported along with his family to a concentration camp
in 1941. He survived the imprisonment, became a writer, and emigrated from Romania to the west in
1986. Today he writes and teaches in New York. The film does not inform the viewer of these key
pieces of information until later. It allows the literature to take precedence and focuses on the question
of how memories and experiences of exile and alienation are conveyed in literature and film.
An event by arsenal distribution and joonfilm.
Moderator: Ernest Wichner, Autor: René Frölke
Ticket Presale via Filmkunst 66, Tel.030. 88 21 753
9/8/8€
21 09 MONDAY
JSA BERLIN
Prison reading with Mawil [Germany]
Closed Event
8PM REFLECTIONS
RENAISSANCE-THEATER
Jorge Bucay [Argentina] leads the way, with spirit and sensitivity, back to life in »Buch der
Trauer«
The influential gestalt therapist Bucay was so successful with his therapeutic implementation of
anecdotes, fables, and stories to show patients the way, that these stories developed into a collection
of parables titled »Komm, ich erzähl dir eine Geschichte«. In his recently published, newest work,
Bucay uses his years of experience as a therapist and storyteller to demonstrate various forms of loss
and sorrow to the reader, which he considers »unavoidable constants« in life, in order to invite the
reader onto the path of confronting and learning from their sorrow.
16 / 12 / 12 €
Ticket presale via the Renaissance Theatre, Tel: 030. 312 42 02
01 - 04 10
INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE FESTIVAL ODESSA
ODESSA LITERATURE MUSEUM
TERMINAL 42, HOTEL LONDONSKAYA
With Juri Andruchowitsch [Ukraine], Lukas Bärfuss [Switzerland], Marica Bodrožić [Germany], Melvin
Burgess [UK], Thomas Espedal [Norway], Yves Grevet [France], Nino Haratischwili [Georgia/
Germany], Viktor Jerofejew [Russia], Irena Karpa [Ukraine], Sema Kaygusuz [Turkey], Borys
Khersonskyj [Ukraine], Andrej Kurkov [Ukraine], Barbara Lehmann [Germany], Pankaj Mishra [India/
UK], Nils Mohl [Germany] Vera Poloskova [Russia], Ilma Rakusa [Switzerland], Alberto Ruy Sanchez
[Mexiko], Joachim Sartorius [Germany], John Ralston Saul [Kanada], Michail Schischkin [Russia/
Switzerland], Zveta Sofronieva [Bulgaria], Dato Turaschwili [Georgia], Eliot Weinberger [USA], Serhij
Zhadan [Ukraine]
21 11 SATURDAY
Salman Rushdie [India/ USA] – Battle of the spirits, war of worlds, Djinn and »Two Years Eight
Months and Twenty-Eight Days« in New York
In his newest novel, Salman Rushdie tells a timeless love story in a world ruled by senselessness.
Dunia, the princess of light, falls in love with the philosopher Ibn Ruschd, and bears him many
children, who make their way out into the world. Ibn Ruschd is classified as an enemy of God, his
adversary is the deeply faithful Islamic prophet Ghazali. The spirits of both men engage in a fight. The
struggle of faith against rationality begins, and brews such a terrible storm that a chasm opens in the
universe, through which the destructive Djin is able to enter. The existence of the world hangs in the
balance. Dunia decides to help the people.
Moderator: Johanna Adorjan, Speaker: Burghard Klaussner
15 / 12 / 8
08.09.15
11.30AM CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Master class comic with Mawil [Germany]
With the master class »Comic« this year’s ilb dives even deeper into the field of writing with respect to
the illustrating of comics. Mawil will offer insights into his work environment and reveal some tricks and
tips on what constitutes the art of writing and illustrating comics. Discussion will follow.
INT. CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
09.09.15
9.30AM CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Section Opening Event: Speech by Frank Cottrell Boyce [UK] and reading from »The
Unforgotten Coat«
This year’s opening speech in the program International Children’s and Young Adult Literature will be
given by the British writer Frank Cottrell Boyce. Cottrell Boyce is one of the most important
international authors of children’s and young adult literature; he was awarded several prizes and also
gained worldwide recognition for his work as a screenplay writer. In addition, the author will present
the international premiere of his book »The Unforgotten Coat«.
8/6/3€
09.09 – 19.09.15
CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
HAUS DER BERLINER FESTSPIELE Ticket Hall
Exhibition »The Extraordinary Book 2015 – Library for Young Readers«
»Which extraordinary book should children, teenagers or young adults absolutely read?« Since 2012
we have posed our festival guests this question. Based on their replies, we organize an exhibition of
the recommended books, »The Extraordinary Book 2015«. The exhibition will be on display at the
Haus der Berliner Festspiele [09.–19.09.2015] and, for the first time, also at the
Bezirkszentralbibliothek Philipp Schaeffer [31.08.– 25.09.2015]. The library can be found online at
www.literaturfestival.com/kjl/aussergewoehnlich.
Free Entry
13.09.15
11AM-5PM CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
DIE GELBE VILLA Kreuzberg
13th International Family Fest – Reading without Borders
At the 13th International Family Fest on Sunday, September 13, the authors and illustrators Roddy
Doyle [Ireland], Javier Martìnez Pedro [Mexico], Salah Noura [Germany], Edward van de Vendel
[Netherlands] and Kaatje Vermeire [Belgium] read from their work and present their illustrations to
children and adults alike. In addition, the multifaceted program also includes various creative
workshops and theatre performances. Refreshments will be available.
Free Entry
17.09.15
6PM CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
WEINMEISTERHAUS Mitte
12th Literary Night Salon – Workshop »The Art of Edward van de Vendel« with Edward van de
Vendel [Netherlands]
With over 70 picture books, collections of poetry, novels and nonfiction books, Edward van de Vendel
ranks among the most productive and diverse authors of children’s and young adult literature in the
Netherlands. Vendel shows great empathy in his descriptions of the world as experienced by a child
and the process of growing up. At the workshop »The Art of Edward van de Vendel«, our 12th literary
night salon, we aim to uncover that which is typical of van de Vendel’s texts, and which makes them
distinctive and extraordinary.
Free Entry

ilb booklet 2015 / KJL booklet 2015 - Internationales Literaturfestival

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